Will Hunt brings home dominant victory on 2024 Nürburgring comeback

Will Hunt closed out a dominant victory on his 2024 return to the Nürburgring Nordschleife with Adrenalin Motorsport teammates Nico Silva, Yannik Himmels and Michel Albers (Saturday 3 August).

The Sussex Autos-backed driver bettered the podium he achieved on his debut at ‘The Ring’ in 2023, bringing home the winners’ trophy in his first competitive outing with the #651 BMW M240i Racing Cup in the red flag-shortened Nurburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) ROWE 6h ADAC Ruhr-Pokal-Rennen.

Hunt had only one session on the Nürburgring Grand Prix loop and a short run on the full Nordschleife to get acquainted with the #651 BMW’s controls and understand its handling characteristics.

However, the programme was curtailed when a pressurised cylinder exploded behind a pit garage in the Grand Prix paddock, a few doors down from Adrenalin Motorsport’s own setup.

The paddock was evacuated as emergency workers and bystanders with first aid training helped the injured, who were transported to the local hospital by air ambulance while police conducted a routine investigation into the incident.

It was a traumatic turn of events and all involved with the NLS were deeply shocked, but Adrenalin Motorsport’s drivers calmed themselves by turning to data and onboard video analysis in readiness for the fourth round of the 2024 NLS.

The preparation Hunt, Silva, Himmels and Albers put in on Friday night paid dividends, as they were delighted to place the Sussex Autos-sponsored BMW on pole position, aware they also had strategic flexibility with very little to choose between all four drivers over a race stint.

The ROWE 6h ADAC Pokal-Rennen began as early-morning mist was replaced by a rain shower that added even more peril and spice to the first racing laps around ‘The Green Hell’.

The Nordschleife quickly turned into an ice-rink and the red flags flew when the top six overall skated off into the barriers, blocking the track and causing a long delay while stricken cars were retrieved and crash barriers repaired.

Officials responded by reducing the race time from six to four hours, and NLS4 started afresh at 14:00 Central European Summer Time.

At the head of the M240i Racing Cup class, Silva – the starting driver in the pole-sitting #651 machine – had been in the process of building a healthy advantage when the race was halted.

 The American picked up from where he left off at the restart and, although he enjoyed a 33-second lead at the completion of the first racing lap, the gap continued expanding over the course of a stellar opening stint.

The baton was passed to teammate Himmels on the fifth tour of the 20.8km Nordschleife and swift work by the Adrenalin Motorsport pit crew resulted in further gains.

Himmels circulated significantly quicker than the opposing M240i Racing Cups until he was summoned in to give way to Albers just before half-distance on lap 11, with a Code 60 and yellow flags in force.

The delta between the Veedol-liveried #651 and the chasing #652 Adrenalin Motorsport Team Mainhatten Wheels machine was negligible, and the lead gap remained relatively static at approximately 2m30s during the third hour.

Happily, Hunt had the honour of closing out the truncated four-hour race for the #651 crew, who temporarily relinquished P1 when the sister car went a lap further before boxing for its final driver-change.

However, with sector times that were super consistent and frequently quicker than his pursuers, the Sussex Autos-backed driver was some six minutes clear of the competition after Adrenalin Motorsport ran down its mandatory minimum pit time in a fourth stop with the #651 car.

There was no let-up in Hunt’s pace while he managed a “long brake pedal” in the latter half of a supreme stint, and he brought the #651 Adrenalin Motorsport BMW M240i Racing Cup home to a controlled victory on his 2024 comeback to the Nürburgring.  

“It’s fantastic to come away with a victory that goes beyond the podium I achieved on my Nürburgring debut in 2023, but this is also a great team result for Adrenalin Motorsport,” said Hunt. “The team needed this finish after misfortune in another class cost them a championship title, and after the traumatic and shocking scenes surrounding the explosion that occurred in the paddock on Friday.

“This win is an accumulation of four very strong race stints from me and my teammates, Nico (Silva), Yannik (Himmels) and Michel (Albers). There was no weak link in our driver roster, we have all been super supportive of each other and have enjoyed the chemistry. We’re all very happy, but our thoughts are still with those who were injured on Friday. I wish them all well.”